


Heroes with the Faces of Monsters

by Peppermint_Miraculous (Peppermint_Shamrock)



Series: Peppermint's Spooktober One-shots [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Gen, Miraculous Spooktober, Spooktober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-23 20:25:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16166363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peppermint_Shamrock/pseuds/Peppermint_Miraculous
Summary: Their humanity was such a small price to pay, but a price nonetheless.Written for Miraculous Spooktober Day 2 Prompt - Monsters





	Heroes with the Faces of Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> Background Music: [Through the Mirror](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K12pEb4hBRU)
> 
> Shamelessly stealing the music idea from a friend of mine who included an instrumental theme with each of her chapters on her Big Bang fic. I'll be trying the same with each fic I write for Spooktober. Totally optional, of course, the story works fine without it, but it can be nice to have some eerie music to listen to alongside the story.
> 
> My first fic for Spooktober is a Monster AU where Miraculous Wielders transform into monstrous creatures resembling the animals they represent, instead of just getting a costume.

“Do you think Ladybug and Chat Noir live among us?”

Marinette nearly choked.

“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.

“You know, do you think they disguise themselves as humans when they’re not out saving the day? Like lizard people,” Alya said.

“Oh god, Alya, don’t tell me you believe in lizard people now?” Marinette said, groaning. It wouldn’t be the first conspiracy theory Alya had gotten far too attached to.

“Of course not!” she said, and Marinette sighed in relief. “If there were lizard people, we’d see them out there kicking ass like Ladybug. We don’t, ergo: no lizard people. Simple logic.”

“Uh…okay, I’ll take your word for it,” Marinette said. “So what brought this on? Last I heard, your theory was that they lived in a secret government laboratory.”

Ever since Marinette had become Ladybug, she and her partner had been the fascination of bored conspiracy theorists everywhere, including, of course, her best friend Alya. Alya tended to bounce around to different theories, some tame, some wild, all completely wrong. Marinette would’ve said that there was no idea too out there for Alya to entertain, but that wasn’t quite true. Apparently she had a fierce online rivalry with some other Internet conspiracy theorist who insisted that Ladybug and Chat Noir were the heralds of the end times and that akumatization was divine punishment for materialism.

Or some such. Marinette only knew as far as Alya had ranted about it, and hadn’t looked much further into it, although she had to admit she found the conclusions people came to interesting (and sometimes humorous). After all, somewhere out there someone had noticed that the akumas tended to infect objects people had attachments to – but somehow missed that akumatization was related to emotional upset. As much as she and Chat Noir tried to spread what they knew about akumatization and risk factors, people still seemed to get it wrong.

Well. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that people didn’t exactly trust the two heroes. Oh, they were perfectly content to let them take care of the akumas and there was plenty of gratitude to go around…but Marinette knew the position they enjoyed was precarious. The Impostor incident had only confirmed what she’d suspected from the beginning – people were wary of the two of them, and it wouldn’t take much for the public to turn on them. Marinette worried that someday, Papillon would succeed in taking advantage of that. She worried that people would grow complacent with attacks, take the relative security afforded to them by the heroes’ protection for granted, and start wondering if they _really_ ought to be letting a couple of _monsters_ run amok around the city.

Ladybug and Chat Noir weren’t _human_ , after all. Or at least, not as far as the public knew. They only saw the powerful creatures Marinette and her partner transformed into, which were only vaguely humanoid, with more of their appearance borrowed from the animals they represented than their ordinary forms.

Which was why Alya’s conclusion today was more than a little concerning. For all the distrust, there was safety in inhumanity. People probably wouldn’t find your civilian identity if they weren’t looking for it, and they wouldn’t look for it if they didn’t know you even  _had_ one in the first place. Better to let conspiracy theories flow. Alya’s current theory was that Ladybug and Chat Noir were government-created experiments, released for the purposes of tracking down and neutralizing a rogue experiment, Papillon. As conspiracy theories went, it wasn’t bad – if Marinette didn’t know the truth, she might have found it a compelling explanation. After all, as Alya had said, how else were Ladybug and Chat Noir able to respond so quickly to the first akumatization incident?

Although, Marinette had to admit she had gotten a bit of an ego boost from the “ancient gods” theory. Apparently in past times, miraculous wielders  _had_ been worshiped as gods (which made a certain amount of sense). But they’d just as often been hunted as monsters, demons, and shapeshifting witches, so all in all, Marinette was rather glad she didn’t live in the worship-and-pitchforks era. Besides, she knew full well that the  actual  ancient gods involved were the kwamis that were bound to the jewelry, not the wielders.

One of Marinette’s duties was to keep that truth a secret. A secret that was continuously threatened by her far too inquisitive best friend.

“Yeah, I had thought that,” Alya said. “And I still think they could be a government project. But the timing just doesn’t work out. A secret facility has to be well hidden, and hard to get in and out of – and Ladybug and Chat Noir often get on the scene really quickly! So I think, the government set them up with disguises and a place to live that’s easy and quick to get to and from. They could be living and working around us just like regular people. They could even be attending our school!” Alya finished, practically squealing. Marinette internally panicked.

“I think that’s a bit much, don’t you?” Marinette said hastily, giving a nervous chuckle. “I mean, they’d be kind of hard to hide…”

Alya waved dismissively.

“Ladybug can repair the entire city with a couple words. I don’t think disguises are a problem. Just you wait and see – Ladybug and Chat Noir are out there, hiding among us, disguised as perfectly ordinary humans – I’d bet on it. And I’m gonna find them!”

No, no, no, no, no! This was exactly what Marinette was afraid of. If Alya started looking into things too closely…it could be bad.

But she brought up an interesting thought.

Humans that were secretly monsters, or monsters that were secretly human? If she didn’t think about it, the answer seemed obvious – of course she was human, she’d always been human, she just owned magical jewelry that gave her a monstrous form. But if she did think about it…

Marinette couldn’t deny that she loved being Ladybug. Sure, she had certainly freaked out the first time she’d transformed into a giant bug creature. But it stopped being weird pretty quickly. Perhaps too quickly. It was a form that strangely suited her, bringing out her best qualities and strengths. One might even go as far as to say that her clumsiness indicated that she  _wasn’t_ suited to her human form. It was strange to think that she was human, yet better accustomed to her unnatural form – and yet she could quite honestly say that this was true. She often would forget that she didn’t have wings or a second set of arms when she wasn’t transformed, and be caught off guard for a moment when she tried to move them and nothing happened.

At any rate, it would be an interesting philosophical discussion to have with Tikki or Master Fu or Chat Noir later. Perhaps Chat Noir also felt the same way, although at least he presumably kept the same number of limbs. But right now, Marinette couldn’t dwell on the thought – she had to figure out how to get Alya off this hunt.

“But…if that’s really true, maybe you should just let it go?” Marinette said hesitantly as she followed Alya. “People might panic if they think that anyone around them could secretly be a monster.”

“But it’s Ladybug and Chat Noir!” Alya said, and Marinette could hear the roll in her eyes. “Everyone knows they’re here to protect us, so why would they panic?”

Marinette tried not to sigh. For as observant as Alya was, she was incredibly naive when it came to realizing how most people reacted to unnatural beings. Alya thought that Ladybug and Chat Noir were the coolest thing ever, and to be fair, she had a lot of blog followers who clearly shared that line of thinking (though maybe not quite to the same extent). Marinette was grateful to have fans and admirers like Alya, really…but she was well aware that most people were a bit unnerved when dealing with the two of them.

Thanks for getting rid of the other monsters and fixing up the damage, Ladybug, but can you please go now, you’re scaring the children. That was the impression, in not so many words, that she got more often than not. Chat Noir got a similar reaction, although at least he had what she called the “kitty factor” - it didn’t matter how big and vicious a predator a lion or a tiger or whatever was, people would still coo over what a cute kitty it was. The same thing to some extent applied to Chat Noir, and it probably helped that he was a complete goofball, too. And he ramped it up to eleven when dealing with civilians, if the occasion that she’d first “met” him as Marinette was any reliable indication. She’d had trouble keeping from laughing at his ridiculous antics, until Tikki had pointed out that it was likely a method of trying to appear nonthreatening.

That made an unfortunate amount of sense. While _she_ knew full well that Chat Noir was one of the gentlest people you could ever meet, it was easy to assume otherwise from his appearance and powers. It made sense for him to emphasize a playful nature, for public relations if nothing else.

Marinette did not have that luxury. While she didn’t mind indulging her own playful side at times, she knew the importance of being taken seriously, too. The people needed to have confidence in their capabilities to defend Paris from the Akumas. Unfortunately, in the general public view, it was impossible to separate the perception of their capability and agency as protectors from their capability and agency as potential threats.

And a giant insect was, quite frankly, not cute or cuddly like a giant kitty cat.

Well, said kitty cat had vocally disagreed on both those points, but he was a flatterer and a flirt, so while Marinette enjoyed the attention, she would hardly consider his opinion on the matter to be useful when dealing with the average citizen.

Still, Chat Noir was a dear friend, and she knew she could ask for no one better to confide her concerns in. Which she did, later that evening.

“Did you see what the Ladyblog posted today?”

“Yeah,” he said. “A bit too close for comfort, huh? But she’ll probably move onto a new theory next week, so I don’t think we’ve got much to worry about.”

“Probably,” Marinette echoed, unconvinced. Four sets of fingers twisted together nervously. It was odd – but convenient, as what kind of superhero would she be if she was thwarted by something as simple as a doorknob? – that she retained rather human-like fingers in this form, but she wasn’t going to complain. Fingers were useful. And she may or may not have occasionally locked herself in her room to transform and use her extra hands to work more efficiently on her various projects.

“She got it backwards, anyway,” he said.

“Did she?” Marinette said. She closed her eyes, and pulled one hand away to gently stroke Chat Noir’s fur. “A human that’s sometimes a monster. A monster that’s sometimes a human. What’s the difference? And would the distinction matter to anyone but ourselves?”

“We’re not monsters,” Chat Noir said tersely, his tail lashing behind him.

Marinette closed her eyes, continuing to stroke him soothingly.

“I don’t think we’re fully human,” she said. “And I don’t even mind, really. Maybe it should bother me, but I _like_ being like…this.” She gestured at herself with two arms, not removing the third from his back. “The only thing that bothers me is how… _scared_ people still get. Haven’t we proven ourselves by now?”

“You’d think,” he said, almost bitterly. “I know what you mean, though. I like being like this too. After all, I make _quite_ the irresistible tomcat,” he said, turning on his “I think I’m so charming” tone, as he turned to wink at her. She giggled.

“Sure, kitty, you keep telling yourself that.”

“I will, because I know I’m right,” he said, grinning. She couldn’t exactly smile like he could, but she knew he could tell that she would’ve been.

They sat in comfortable silence for a little while, but soon enough, Marinette’s worries pushed to the forefront of her mind again.

“I hope you’re right about Alya. But if this theory gains traction…I don’t want people panicking that they have no guarantee that the people they know are even human. Or even worse, someone actually finding us.”

“There are a lot of people in this city, Buginette. We’ll be fine.”

“A lot of people who could start looking for us,” Marinette pointed out. “Or getting in our way when we try to leave to go detransform. If even one person found out, it could be all over the Internet in minutes. And even if they promised not to spread it, it only takes getting akumatized for that information to get passed on to Papillon…” she trailed off into silence. The implications were well understood between them.

“I know it’s bad, but I…I’m honestly less scared of Papillon finding out who I am than my friends and family finding out,” Chat Noir admitted. Marinette turned to look at him, shocked. Papillon finding out was the worst thing that could happen! He could target them, and their families and friends. He would have an unquestionable advantage.

Chat Noir held his hands up. His, too, were rather human-like compared to the rest of him – though they did contain some retractable claws and were more than a little furry on the top.

“I know it sounds bad, but…I don’t care what Papillon thinks of me. But my family, my friends…” his voice grew soft. “What would they think of me? I know I’m a hero, I know I’m human, or at least mostly, but what if all they see is…is a monster?”

Marinette didn’t know how to answer. To be honest, she’d never even considered that. Keeping her identity secret had always been about safety, always about Papillon. Never about what people thought of her. But Chat Noir had a point – it was bad enough dealing with people’s cold attitudes to them when they were out like this, if they had to deal with it as civilians, too…and from friends and family, it would be even worse. Marinette had nothing to worry about from Alya – she’d be over the moon to find out who Ladybug really was – but everyone else? She wasn’t so sure.

“Just another reason to keep the secret,” she said quietly.

“They don’t even need to know who I am,” Chat Noir answered, his tail twitching in agitation, and his ears pressed down. “I’m afraid to have to rescue them as Chat Noir, and for them to…to just look at me, like…”

Marinette put all her arms around him, pulling him to her. What could she say to that? Especially now that he was awakening these fears in her, too. What if she had to speak to her parents as Ladybug? What if she had to see fear in their eyes? She could deal with it in the moment, she would have to, but…how could she ever look them in the eyes again?

“I didn’t use to worry about it,” he said. “But then…one of my friends ended up in danger. Don’t worry – I won’t tell you who it was. But the way she looked at me…it wasn’t even fear, it was disgust. Disdain. It…hurt. Strangely, she doesn’t seem to mind you – actually, she seems to like you quite a bit.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not all bad,” he murmured, as though he were embarrassed by his admission, or by being anything but cheerful. “I had to protect another friend a short time after that, and…you weren’t around, so I was really nervous. It was one thing to see it from…that first friend, she’s always been a bit…prickly. But this other girl, she…she’s just…the kind of person you _want_ to approve of you, you know? I don’t know what I would’ve done if she’d looked at me like that. I’ve been on her bad side once…it feels terrible, makes you feel like you kicked a puppy or something. And that was when I barely knew her. So, approaching her like this was…a little terrifying.”

“So, did she…?” Marinette prompted, a little apprehensive of the answer. This was clearly a sore spot for him, and if anyone had ever upset him…

But a small smile flitted onto his face.

“She thought I was cool.”

“I’m glad,” Marinette said, her wings fluttering out a bit in relief. “I’m sure she’ll realize what a dork you really are the next time you have to rescue her, though.”

“A _cool_ dork.”

She just shook her head fondly.

“We’ll always have friends, Chat Noir. We have more to fear from losing them to Papillon’s ambitions than losing them to monster hysteria.”

“I wish it was that easy to stop worrying.”

“It’s not,” Marinette admitted. “I always worry. But if it’s any consolation, the stuff I worry about almost never happens.” She started to scratch behind his ears and was rewarded with a gentle rumble.

In the distance, she heard screams. She pulled away from Chat Noir, and stood up, offering him one of her hands to pull him along.

“Duty calls, I think,” she said.

“Let’s see what Papillon’s got for us this time,” he said, nodding.

Together, the two heroes leapt across the rooftops, their powerful forms silhouetted against the sunset to any observers below, like the shadows of unknowable gods. But they were not unknowable; they were not gods.

They were Ladybug and Chat Noir. They may have been humans; they may have been monsters. But they were partners, and they were certainly heroes.

And the city was safe in their hands.


End file.
